Before Christmas, things were going well on the Low Carb High Fat train. Then Christmas came and went and something changed. I went a bit too far with the experimentation, away from the basics, and I got a bit lost. The physical sensations were different, I started eating more often and larger plates of food (averaging 500kcals a day more than I'm supposed to need even accounting for training). I didn't put on any weight (go figure), but nor was it dropping off like it should do (I'm still nowhere near a lean, fat-fuelled body composition and I reckon there's about 5kg to go from the weight I was 2 days ago), I felt squashy, cranky, sleepy and just not the same as before Christmas.
I stumbled across a post by Sweet Geek about ketogenic diets and her experience and it made me realise that urine ketone measurements doesn't tell you enough of the story for my purposes. I need to be at the place where my brain isn't powered by glucose created in my liver from dietary protein; "By testing your blood ketones, you can really tell not only if you are
in ketotis but if you are well adapted, i.e. making enough ketones to
fuel your brain and the rest of your body runs on fat. If you are on the
borderline, then your liver will create glucose from protein which if
you are trying to lower glucose metabolism, isn’t terribly helpful. In
addition it seems that in that borderline state you aren’t getting
enough glucose to use it as your primary fuel and yet you aren’t able to
run off of fat well either and consequently you probably feel awful
with low-energy, fatigue, cravings and mood swings." Bingo! There were the differences between before and after Christmas.
So, when I'm back from training camp in Lanzarote, I'll be using the ridiculously expensive ketone testing strips that MrTOTKat got for me (along with a ketone testing machine, which is far less stupidly expensive in the grand scheme of things) once a day, in the morning probably. And I'll lay off the fancy experimentation stuff, stick to the delicious things we were eating in November/December last year and try a new thing once a week or so, but not obsessively. In the mean time, I'll just aim to keep carbs to 30g a day or less, easy on the protein and eat when I'm hungry rather than when it's time.
Showing posts with label protein. Show all posts
Showing posts with label protein. Show all posts
Saturday, 26 January 2013
Monday, 11 April 2011
My first green monster
For beginners (as in, this is very sweet and you can't taste the green veg -at- -all-):-
Soooo pretty. But way too sweet for me; and too much volume. I could go with a lot less banana and a lot more green leafy veg, which would make it a bit less thick and voluminous. Not bad for a first shot though.
(* - you can get discounts off My Protein products from their website if you quote my reference number MP186248)
- 1x frozen banana (I freeze them in chunks for ease of blending)
- 1 scoop (25g) whey protein (MP* True Whey Cookies and Cream flavour)
- 200ml skimmed milk
- 40g baby spinach
*Soooo pretty. But way too sweet for me; and too much volume. I could go with a lot less banana and a lot more green leafy veg, which would make it a bit less thick and voluminous. Not bad for a first shot though.
(* - you can get discounts off My Protein products from their website if you quote my reference number MP186248)
Monday, 7 March 2011
Buffalo stew
Laverstoke Park do quite a trade in buffalo meat these days and Abel and Cole shifts a lot of it to homes around the South East. So sometimes it's on special and I get it in the weekly delivery from Abel and Cole as I prefer to get meat and fish when it's on special. Recently I got a couple of packs of diced buffalo and made a huge stew in the Star Chef with them.
Buffalo Stew
Serves 4 (397kcals, 57g protein, 19.6g carbs, 6.2g fat, 3g fibre, 1.5 fruit & veg)
Chop the onions, slice the carrots, finely slice the garlic and chop the herbs.
Sweat the onions and brown the meat.
Sprinkle the flour over and stir a bit, then add everything else and cook on low/in a slow cooker for 3-6 hours.
Serve with root veg mash (or rice, or couscous, or a hunk of bread) and eat.
Buffalo Stew
Serves 4 (397kcals, 57g protein, 19.6g carbs, 6.2g fat, 3g fibre, 1.5 fruit & veg)
- 1 largeish or 2 small (250g) onions
- 1 tablespoon (30g) wholemeal flour
- 1 beef stock cube
- 2 to 4 (200g) carrots
- 1 tablespoon 15ml olive oil
- 2 packs (1kg) buffalo, cubed braising steak
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- 1 tsp/ fresh rosemary
- 4 fat cloves garlic
- 20g cranberry sauce/cherry jam/any sweet and tangy preserve (not citrus marmalade)
- 200ml red wine
Chop the onions, slice the carrots, finely slice the garlic and chop the herbs.
Sweat the onions and brown the meat.
Sprinkle the flour over and stir a bit, then add everything else and cook on low/in a slow cooker for 3-6 hours.
Serve with root veg mash (or rice, or couscous, or a hunk of bread) and eat.
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Buffalo stew - a high protein meal in a bowl
Buffalo is becoming a lot easier to come by in the UK, thanks to farms like Laverstoke Park. I was initially introduced to buffalo by Alternative Meats, but now there are larger home delivery grocery companies like Abel and Cole that stock and deliver it to your door.
As meats go, buffalo is extremely high protein as a percentage of the total kcal payload. Comparing average lean beef braising steak with the Laverstoke Park buffalo braising steak:-
Beef Buffalo
kcals/100g 126.3 95.0
Protein 23.0 21.7
Fat 3.8 0.7
Carbohydrate 0.0 0.4
% protein 68.8 91.8
% fat 31.2 6.7
% carbohydrate 0.0 1.6
As you can see, bang for buck, buffalo gives you a heck of a lot more protein for your kcals. There are also differences in the micronutrients, primarily B12 and iron, but they seem to vary more depending on the feed of the livestock and grass-fed seems to mostly show improved levels of desirable micronutrients than grain-fed. Lots of research out there on the Internets...
On with the recipe! And yet again, using the Star Chef is a win in terms of minimising washing up and attentiveness in the kitchen. Browning and cooking all in the same pot and you can leave it to do the slow cooking thing and not worry about drying out, over-cooking or sticking to the bottom of the pot. (if only there was a better mechanism for getting the pot out of the device... that's the only annoying bit)
Buffalo stew (serves 4; 395 kcals, 57g protein, 6g fat, 18g carbs, 3g fibre, 1 portion fruit & veg):-
Peel and slice the carrots, onion and garlic. And finely chop the herbs.
Add oil to a non-stick pan, heat gently and soften the onion and garlic.
Add the cubed meat and brown.
Add the flour and jam and stir to coat the meat. Then add the stock, herbs and carrots and cook on a low heat for 2-4 hours.
Serve with root vegetables (celeriac, sweet potato and parsnips go particularly well), either in chunks or mashed/pureed.
BTW the mash here is celeriac vanilla puree. Recipe to follow as it's -stunning-!
As meats go, buffalo is extremely high protein as a percentage of the total kcal payload. Comparing average lean beef braising steak with the Laverstoke Park buffalo braising steak:-
Beef Buffalo
kcals/100g 126.3 95.0
Protein 23.0 21.7
Fat 3.8 0.7
Carbohydrate 0.0 0.4
% protein 68.8 91.8
% fat 31.2 6.7
% carbohydrate 0.0 1.6
As you can see, bang for buck, buffalo gives you a heck of a lot more protein for your kcals. There are also differences in the micronutrients, primarily B12 and iron, but they seem to vary more depending on the feed of the livestock and grass-fed seems to mostly show improved levels of desirable micronutrients than grain-fed. Lots of research out there on the Internets...
On with the recipe! And yet again, using the Star Chef is a win in terms of minimising washing up and attentiveness in the kitchen. Browning and cooking all in the same pot and you can leave it to do the slow cooking thing and not worry about drying out, over-cooking or sticking to the bottom of the pot. (if only there was a better mechanism for getting the pot out of the device... that's the only annoying bit)
Buffalo stew (serves 4; 395 kcals, 57g protein, 6g fat, 18g carbs, 3g fibre, 1 portion fruit & veg):-
- 1kg good quality cubed buffalo braising steak (beef will do fine as a substitute)
- 30g plain flour (wholemeal)
- 15ml extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium onions
- 2 large carrots
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp tangy jam (cherry, apricot, plum - not raspberry or strawberry)
- 200ml red wine
- 400ml beef stock (made from a good quality cube is fine)
- fresh rosemary
- fresh thyme
Peel and slice the carrots, onion and garlic. And finely chop the herbs.
Add oil to a non-stick pan, heat gently and soften the onion and garlic.
Add the cubed meat and brown.
Add the flour and jam and stir to coat the meat. Then add the stock, herbs and carrots and cook on a low heat for 2-4 hours.
Serve with root vegetables (celeriac, sweet potato and parsnips go particularly well), either in chunks or mashed/pureed.
BTW the mash here is celeriac vanilla puree. Recipe to follow as it's -stunning-!
Sunday, 15 August 2010
A bit mopey
Apparently I've been a bit too far out of my comfort zone and now that I'm back in it, I feel a lot better. I've eaten food I've made, regularly, and been to the gym, had lots of sleep, and vacuumed the house and now despite the quite impressive abs, shoulders, quads and arms DOMS, I feel good. Good, but not great. I think I really need a holiday and it's a while yet until we go.
I've cleaned and re-greased my bike chain and Mr TOTKat pumped up the tyres for me. I've also pottered a bit in the kitchen, made some roasted red pepper houmous...
Roasted Red Pepper Houmous, Serves 6
Per serving:-
B - toasted Food Doctor wholemeal seeded bagel with Marmite and a poached egg
S - greek yogurt with strawberries and mango
L - two Waitrose wholemeal pittas, toasted, with roasted red pepper houmous
S - a slice of Sainsburys SO Organic stoneground wholemeal bread, toasted, with a tin of Heinz Beanz
D - chicken salad with lettuce, red peppers, boiled egg and new potatoes
I need to work on shifting the protein balance back up high again. It's always a bit tricky at weekends when I'm doing less exercise, but it's also tricky on days when I'm cycling as I have so many kcals I need to eat, it gets tricky to keep the protein % high and not have really expensive days in terms of food. Cottage cheese and yogurt help a lot there, but by themselves they're a bit boring, especially in terms of texture, so I end up adding fruit or oat cakes and up goes the carb level. I could try just flaked almonds or other chopped nuts I guess...
I've cleaned and re-greased my bike chain and Mr TOTKat pumped up the tyres for me. I've also pottered a bit in the kitchen, made some roasted red pepper houmous...
Roasted Red Pepper Houmous, Serves 6
Per serving:-
| Calories (kcal) | 147 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 11.2 |
| Protein (g) | 4.5 |
| Fat (g) | 9.4 |
| Fibre (g) | 2.0 |
| Fruit & Veg | 1.1 |
- 30ml Lemon Juice
- 1 clove Garlic
- 25ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Can/240g Chick Peas, in Water, Canned, Drained, Organic
- 25g Tahini Paste
- 1tsp salt
- 15ml Grapeseed Oil (or other unflavoured oil)
- 2 Red Peppers
- Black pepper to taste
B - toasted Food Doctor wholemeal seeded bagel with Marmite and a poached egg
S - greek yogurt with strawberries and mango
L - two Waitrose wholemeal pittas, toasted, with roasted red pepper houmous
S - a slice of Sainsburys SO Organic stoneground wholemeal bread, toasted, with a tin of Heinz Beanz
D - chicken salad with lettuce, red peppers, boiled egg and new potatoes
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1707 1790] |
| Protein (g) | 111.3 (27%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 223.2 (50.7%) |
| Fat (g) | 41.0 (22.3%) |
| Fibre (g) | 30.8 |
| Fruit & Veg | 9.4 |
I need to work on shifting the protein balance back up high again. It's always a bit tricky at weekends when I'm doing less exercise, but it's also tricky on days when I'm cycling as I have so many kcals I need to eat, it gets tricky to keep the protein % high and not have really expensive days in terms of food. Cottage cheese and yogurt help a lot there, but by themselves they're a bit boring, especially in terms of texture, so I end up adding fruit or oat cakes and up goes the carb level. I could try just flaked almonds or other chopped nuts I guess...
Monday, 19 April 2010
Back to it
Sort of. Maintenance levels and aiming for highish protein. 2 weeks to the first triathlon and I'm still not allowed to run and not done any weight training of note since busting my butt... hm.
Despite over-doing the carbs and under-doing the fat today, I did have fun with leftover fruit after dinner - whizzed up frozen banana pieces with frozen raspberries and fresh strawberries; it's like sorbet:-
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, blueberries and flaked almonds
S - banana
L - salad; leftover couscous with apricot, peas, cherry tomatoes, roast chicken breast
S - beef jerky
D - beef chilli with couscous, peas and sweetcorn
S - blended frozen banana, frozen raspberries and fresh strawberries
Exercise - rest day
Despite over-doing the carbs and under-doing the fat today, I did have fun with leftover fruit after dinner - whizzed up frozen banana pieces with frozen raspberries and fresh strawberries; it's like sorbet:-
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, blueberries and flaked almonds
S - banana
L - salad; leftover couscous with apricot, peas, cherry tomatoes, roast chicken breast
S - beef jerky
D - beef chilli with couscous, peas and sweetcorn
S - blended frozen banana, frozen raspberries and fresh strawberries
Exercise - rest day
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1715 1793] |
| Protein (g) | 148.7 (36.1%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 206.4 (47.0%) |
| Fat (g) | 31.1 (17.0%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 12.1 |
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Hungry day
Really wanted to go to the gym today but my mind won over my body and I protected my rest day. Rest days are important and it's sometimes hard to remember that.
Having not gone to the gym, my eating times are a bit different and that's resulted in being hungry at odd times (lord knows there's a lot of protein today so it can't be that); 1 hour after having my nommy lunch salad I was still hungry. Meh. Still, I am liking my yogurty breakfasts (greek yogurt with vanilla whey mixed in, fruit compote and flaked almonds on top):-
And there was a v. tasty dinner of Aberdeen Angus and cracked black pepper chipolatas on butternut squash mash (roasted and mashed squash is sooo intense and sticky and tasty!):-
Also, today had a cheat meal in it, due to extenuating circumstances, a medical need for tea and cake and wanting to be supportive and inclusive:-
Inclusivity tastes... OMG, SO GOOD! Morrisons Lemon Meringue Cup Cakes are DIVINE! They take a lemon sponge cup cake, make a cavity in the middle and fill it with lemon curd and top the thing with lemon butter cream and a tiny sprinkling of meringue crumbs. I've not had cake in a while and it was amazing. I could taste every distinct flavour; the butter; the icing sugar; the floury, fatty, sugary, moist sponge; the tangy, sticky, zingy lemon curd... But no, this is not the start of a slippery slide into stuffing my face with cakes, it was a treat, a cheat, a free meal and certainly has been counted in my food diary for today and I know it's empty calories but I don't feel guilty for eating it. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed sharing the pair that we bought and sharing the experience of the fabulous flavours.
Exercise - rest day
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - banana
L - salad - spinach, tomatoes, walnuts, capers, baked chicken breast and honey and mustard dressing
S - beef jerky!
S - 2x tangerines
S - Lemon Meringue Cup Cake
D - Aberdeen Angus and cracked peppercorn chipolatas and mashed butternut squash
Having not gone to the gym, my eating times are a bit different and that's resulted in being hungry at odd times (lord knows there's a lot of protein today so it can't be that); 1 hour after having my nommy lunch salad I was still hungry. Meh. Still, I am liking my yogurty breakfasts (greek yogurt with vanilla whey mixed in, fruit compote and flaked almonds on top):-
And there was a v. tasty dinner of Aberdeen Angus and cracked black pepper chipolatas on butternut squash mash (roasted and mashed squash is sooo intense and sticky and tasty!):-
Also, today had a cheat meal in it, due to extenuating circumstances, a medical need for tea and cake and wanting to be supportive and inclusive:-
Inclusivity tastes... OMG, SO GOOD! Morrisons Lemon Meringue Cup Cakes are DIVINE! They take a lemon sponge cup cake, make a cavity in the middle and fill it with lemon curd and top the thing with lemon butter cream and a tiny sprinkling of meringue crumbs. I've not had cake in a while and it was amazing. I could taste every distinct flavour; the butter; the icing sugar; the floury, fatty, sugary, moist sponge; the tangy, sticky, zingy lemon curd... But no, this is not the start of a slippery slide into stuffing my face with cakes, it was a treat, a cheat, a free meal and certainly has been counted in my food diary for today and I know it's empty calories but I don't feel guilty for eating it. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed sharing the pair that we bought and sharing the experience of the fabulous flavours.
Exercise - rest day
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - banana
L - salad - spinach, tomatoes, walnuts, capers, baked chicken breast and honey and mustard dressing
S - beef jerky!
S - 2x tangerines
S - Lemon Meringue Cup Cake
D - Aberdeen Angus and cracked peppercorn chipolatas and mashed butternut squash
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1840 1799 |
| Protein (g) | 140.8 (31.1%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 145.1 (30.3%) |
| Fat (g) | 76.7 (38.4%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 12.0 |
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Drat
OK, so the protein powder is officially Good. But, of course, I didn't order any more until the day before yesterday so I've now not got any for tomorrow. Drat. Still, there's chocolate milk to keep me going until it arrives. Really really hope it comes tomorrow at some point so I can get back to it on Friday morning.
Natural, strained Greek Yogurt for breakfast, with protein powder, fruit compote and a sprinkling of nuts is pretty nice. The protein powder is more than sweet enough to make the natural yogurt really quite decadent tasting, so I'll be doing that for a while I think.
Exercise - 50 minutes weights (HRmax - 184, HR avg - 158)
B - Greek yogurt with 1 scoop whey, Summer Fruits compote and a sprinkle of walnuts
S - banana
*gym*
S - chocolate milk
L - salad - spinach, tomato, red pepper, capers, spring onion, prawns and lemon juice
S - carrot and caramelised onion houmous
S - clementines
S - fruit & nut mix
D - venison steak with mashed potato, sweet potato and carrot and broccoli
Natural, strained Greek Yogurt for breakfast, with protein powder, fruit compote and a sprinkling of nuts is pretty nice. The protein powder is more than sweet enough to make the natural yogurt really quite decadent tasting, so I'll be doing that for a while I think.
Exercise - 50 minutes weights (HRmax - 184, HR avg - 158)
B - Greek yogurt with 1 scoop whey, Summer Fruits compote and a sprinkle of walnuts
S - banana
*gym*
S - chocolate milk
L - salad - spinach, tomato, red pepper, capers, spring onion, prawns and lemon juice
S - carrot and caramelised onion houmous
S - clementines
S - fruit & nut mix
D - venison steak with mashed potato, sweet potato and carrot and broccoli
| Calories (kcal) [Kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1658 2194] |
| Protein (g) | 113.5 (27.6%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 192.7 (43.9) |
| Fat (g) | 52.0 (28.5%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 12.6 |
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Speedy splosh
My new tri-suit arrived today so I gave it a go in the pool. Killing two birds with one stone, I decided to time myself for 400m so I can give it to the Thames Turbo Triathlon organisers to assess where I should go in the swimming section.
Given that I usually do 1600m in 31-32 minutes, I guesstimated 07:45 for 400m and entered than on the entry form yesterday. Today, in the pool I did 400m in 06:47! If I look at last year's race results, that's a full 20s faster than the fastest woman swimmer of any race last year and slower than only 6 of the men. *cough* I knew I was good :oD
Of course, I want to improve on that now even though I know full well that my running and cycling times will be proportionally nowhere near as good. That's just not the point for me right now. Yes yes, I need to get out and run some too so I can get a reasonable 5K time; I'd be really happy with 26 minutes or so where the fastest women are doing it in around or just under 20 minutes. Cycling... no idea how fast I can do it whatsoever.
Anyway, back to the food and suchlike. Day 2 of protein powder and my stomach is totally fine. If it's still good after tomorrow, I shall declare this new stuff "Good".
Exercise - 31 minutes swimming (7ish minutes at "mad thrash" speed - HRmax - 179, HRavg - 167)
B - Muesli with semi-skimmed milk with 1 scoop whey
S - Dorset Cereals Fruit, Nut and Seeds bar
L - Salad - roasted chicken fillet, lettuce, capers, kidney beans and lemon juice
*swim*
S - chocolate milk
D - pork and apple sausages with mashed potato, sweet potato and carrot
S - slice of rye bread (to try it)
Given that I usually do 1600m in 31-32 minutes, I guesstimated 07:45 for 400m and entered than on the entry form yesterday. Today, in the pool I did 400m in 06:47! If I look at last year's race results, that's a full 20s faster than the fastest woman swimmer of any race last year and slower than only 6 of the men. *cough* I knew I was good :oD
Of course, I want to improve on that now even though I know full well that my running and cycling times will be proportionally nowhere near as good. That's just not the point for me right now. Yes yes, I need to get out and run some too so I can get a reasonable 5K time; I'd be really happy with 26 minutes or so where the fastest women are doing it in around or just under 20 minutes. Cycling... no idea how fast I can do it whatsoever.
Anyway, back to the food and suchlike. Day 2 of protein powder and my stomach is totally fine. If it's still good after tomorrow, I shall declare this new stuff "Good".
Exercise - 31 minutes swimming (7ish minutes at "mad thrash" speed - HRmax - 179, HRavg - 167)
B - Muesli with semi-skimmed milk with 1 scoop whey
S - Dorset Cereals Fruit, Nut and Seeds bar
L - Salad - roasted chicken fillet, lettuce, capers, kidney beans and lemon juice
*swim*
S - chocolate milk
D - pork and apple sausages with mashed potato, sweet potato and carrot
S - slice of rye bread (to try it)
| Calories (kcal) [Kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1879 2071] |
| Protein (g) | 119.6 (26.1%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 223.1 (45.6%) |
| Fat (g) | 57.8 (28.4%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 7.2 |
Good so far
The whey protein hasn't turned me into a groaning, gurgling pile of digestive ick. AND, I'm back to my (slightly inflated) pre-Christmas weight; looks like it was mostly bloat and "stuff in transit".
Sunday, 3 January 2010
CTRL-ALT-DEL
Here we go! This will be a test of whether this new protein powder (with no added CLA) messes with my stomach.
B - Muesli with semi-skimmed milk and 1 scoop whey powder
L - Salad: spinach, kidney beans, goats cheese, capers, spring onion, walnuts and lemon juice
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop whey powder
S - fruit and nut mix
D - salmon fillet, couscous, peas, sweetcorn and lettuce
Exercise - 49 minutes weights (485kcals inc. background)
B - Muesli with semi-skimmed milk and 1 scoop whey powder
L - Salad: spinach, kidney beans, goats cheese, capers, spring onion, walnuts and lemon juice
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop whey powder
S - fruit and nut mix
D - salmon fillet, couscous, peas, sweetcorn and lettuce
Exercise - 49 minutes weights (485kcals inc. background)
| Calories (kcal) [Kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1624 2241] |
| Protein (g) | 116.5 (34.1%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 144.0 (29.4%) |
| Fat (g) | 64.3 (36.5%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 5.5 |
Eating crow now alright
Having been so pleased with my lack of weight/fat gain over Christmas, I've just managed to weigh in 2.5kg heavier than 3 weeks ago. Way to go! AND I've done 3 really hard weights sessions this week where I've increased the weights quite significantly (for me - e.g. bicep curls which are new in this routine, I've upped from 5kg dumbbells to 7kg dumbbells in 3 sessions - 40% increase!) on some exercises and increased a bit on most. I ache like a bugger and my belly is wobbling; nice contrast there! I don't fit into shirts I fitted into nicely 3 weeks ago. It's all down to bad eating and too much drinking. I know that. I had a huge pile of bread yesterday for the first time in a very very long time and my stomach was phenomenally uncomfortable afterwards - I'm just not used to eating bread much any more.
So. Never has it been a better time to get a grip on food and drink and get back to doing things properly, and in fact take things up a notch:-
I've got a skiing holiday in March which may mess things up a bit due to "Sno Camp" being on a Thursday for six weeks which means no weights on Wednesday or Friday as it looks like there will be at least some strength training in those sessions. Not quite worked out how to work around that and keep up the cardio and have 2 rest days in the week, so we're thinking maybe that it'd be better not to do "Sno Camp" at all; it's bound to be targetted at people who have done bugger all exercise all year anyway - and... have you -seen- my thighs?
So. Never has it been a better time to get a grip on food and drink and get back to doing things properly, and in fact take things up a notch:-
- I will complete 3 weights sessions per week (not a feeble 2; but work commitments may torpedo this sometimes) of 40+ minutes.
- I will complete 1-3 cardio sessions a week of 30+ minutes hard effort.
- I will take part in at least 2 of the 4 Thames Turbo sprint triathlon series.
- I will increase my protein intake overall as a proportion of my daily nutrition - by using protein supplements where/if necessary.
- I will significantly decrease my intake of simple carbohydrates; bread (eat that maybe once a week anyway), potatoes, pasta (almost never eat that anyway)
- I will not cut out couscous (I like it a lot and it's a great complex carbohydrate)
- I will have no more than 1/2 bottle of wine per week (or 2x cans of lower alcohol beer) and it will count as a cheat/free meal in itself.
- I will post my food and exercise plan/results every day (90% of the time averaged over a month)
- I will try yogurt with fruit in/on and maybe some nuts for breakfast at least 4 times before giving up if I don't like it.
- I will make lunches up in bulk a couple of days in advance to make things easier.
- I will try to fear nuts less as a snack - yes they're very calorific for their weight/bulk but they -are- good for me in small amounts.
- I will eat bananas as a snack before exercise only (or within 2 hours either side of it, but at no other times)
I've got a skiing holiday in March which may mess things up a bit due to "Sno Camp" being on a Thursday for six weeks which means no weights on Wednesday or Friday as it looks like there will be at least some strength training in those sessions. Not quite worked out how to work around that and keep up the cardio and have 2 rest days in the week, so we're thinking maybe that it'd be better not to do "Sno Camp" at all; it's bound to be targetted at people who have done bugger all exercise all year anyway - and... have you -seen- my thighs?
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